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Connections Vol. 2 Issue 11 November 2007
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Are You Using Flash Effectively In Your Web Site?
By: James R. Dragoo, Jr.
1-877-5-BLAINE
Flash, short for Adobe Flash Player, is used all over the internet to deliver powerful multimedia content. The experience of Flash is visually pleasing to internet users because it can present animation, sound, and other things that a standard web page cannot. As powerful as Flash is, it is often used improperly. This article discusses several ways in which you should use Flash as well as ways that you should not use Flash.
Do not use Flash for your entire web site
One of the worst things that you can do with Flash is to make an entire web site in Flash. Full Flash sites are bad for two reasons:
- If someone does not have Flash Player installed they will be unable to view any part of your web site. Most internet users are more likely to move on to another site rather than take the time to download the latest Flash Player to view your site. According to Adobe 99% of internet users have the Adobe Flash Player, however this statistic is misleading because there are several versions of Flash Player. 97% of internet users have Flash Player version 6 but the latest version to come out is version 9. This means that most internet users have Flash Player but may not have the correct version to view your web site.
- Search engines cannot read the content of Flash. This means that search engines will not be able to read the content of your site that is presented in Flash. This could greatly decrease the number of people that search engines refer to your site.
Do not use Flash for important content
Even if your web site contains features that are not Flash based you must be sure that your main content is not Flash based. Having main content that is Flash based, although not as bad, presents similar problems as using Flash for the entire site. Visitors will not be able to read your Flash content if they do not have the Flash Player installed. This could cause your site to appear broken or incomplete and your visitors may leave.
Do not use Flash for navigation
You should not use Flash to create the navigation for your web site. When a search engine comes across your site it starts on the home page (whatever is the first page of your site) and scans for any links. If your navigation is Flash based, search engines cannot read the links and therefore will not see any of the other pages. Even worse, is when someone comes to your site and does not have the Flash Player. This visitor cannot navigate through your site. If you must have Flash based navigation then, as a backup, you should have other navigation somewhere on the page that is not Flash based. Be aware that while this is a solution, visitors without the Flash Player will view the Flash based navigation as missing or broken.
Do not use Flash for important interactive features
You should also avoid using Flash for features of the web site used for interaction or collecting information, such as forms. The main problem is whether or not your visitors have the Flash Player installed. If the Flash Player is not installed they will not be able to see the form or use it. Flash should not be a requirement to use your site. It should instead be used to compliment and enhance other content.
Flash intros are not necessary
Flash intros were popular in the mid to late 90’s. The main reason they have lost popularity is because they are not good for search engines. It is more important for the first page of the web site to have as much non-Flash content as possible. Your site will rank higher in the search engines if it does not have a Flash intro page.
This does not mean that you cannot use a Flash intro. If you want to use one there are just a couple things to keep in mind. Always have a button or link to skip the intro. This way your visitors have the choice to watch the intro or go directly to the site. Be sure that this link is not part of the Flash. This way if visitors don’t have Flash Player installed, they can still see and use the link. It’s also a good idea to have the intro automatically go to the main page when it is finished playing.
Sound: give users the option
As mentioned earlier, Flash can be used to stream sounds on a web site such as background music. This is a good use of Flash since it is not a mandatory element of the site. If a visitor does not have Flash Player they will not hear the music, but they will still see the rest of your site’s content.
One thing to keep in mind is that some visitors to your site may already be listening to music or sounds from their computer and may get annoyed if your music is interfering with theirs. To avoid this you should not only give them the option to turn off the music but the music should be set to off by default. That way if they want to listen to the music they just have to click the play button.
With all that has been said in this article you may be saying “Well, Flash seems to be nothing but trouble.” That is not true. There are some applications on the internet that Flash is great for, such as sound and video. Web sites such as YouTube and MySpace use Flash to stream audio and video.
The bottom line is that you want to use Flash to compliment or enhance your main content. You do not want Flash to be the majority of your content. Just like most things, Flash is best when used in moderation. Just like any resource within your company, it should be used in areas where it does the most good.
